Helen Grant, the MP who succeeded Ann Widdecombe in Maidstone and the Weald, has written to the Speaker of the House of Commons demanding a memorial for the former Conservative minister, who was killed in what counter-terrorism police described as a “targeted attack” last week.
Widdecombe, 78, was found dead at her home in Devon. A 28-year-old white British man has been arrested on suspicion of murder. Detectives are working to understand the motive, police said.
“Helen Grant calls for a memorial in Parliament for Ann Widdecombe, killed in a targeted attack.”
In a letter shared publicly, Grant called Widdecombe “a formidable Parliamentarian” and a “committed public servant” who had “diligently served her communities for 23 years”. She wrote: “Her lasting legacy is clearly demonstrated by the unifying sense of loss which has transcended party lines in recent days. So for that reason, and in light of the distressing circumstances of her passing, that we would like to see the House commemorate her with a physical marker of remembrance.”
Grant, who took over the seat in the 2010 general election, said the memorial would also be a cross-party acknowledgement of “the threat to our democracy that violence like this brings”. The constituency of Maidstone and the Weald became Maidstone and Malling in 2024.
Widdecombe, a former Conservative minister who later became a Reform UK spokeswoman, served as an MP for 23 years. Her death follows the murders of sitting MPs Jo Cox and David Amess, both of whom were honoured with memorial plaques in Parliament. Cox, 41, was shot and stabbed in Birstall, West Yorkshire, in 2016; a coat of arms designed by her two children was incorporated into a memorial unveiled a year later. Amess, who represented Southend West from 1997, was fatally stabbed at a constituency surgery in Leigh-on-Sea in 2021; a commemorative shield was installed in the chamber in 2023.
The House of Commons has been approached for comment on Grant’s request.
The call for a physical marker comes as the political establishment grapples with the killing of a third MP in under a decade, each death a reminder of the dangers facing elected representatives.
